


in friendship

by smithens



Category: Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Canon Era, Developing Friendships, Ficlet, Gen, Political Alliances
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-11
Updated: 2017-02-11
Packaged: 2018-09-23 06:46:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9644969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smithens/pseuds/smithens
Summary: Feuilly wavers upon a task of inculcation; Enjolras convinces him.





	

**Author's Note:**

> for a Tumblr prompt. kind of a character exercise - and this definitely takes place pre-1828. :)

“Enjolras, I would like to decline you. I shouldn’t want to discompose myself, nor to be a harm to our ends, and -”

“And, if I were to accompany you, Citizen?”

Feuilly pauses. He is not yet used to being called, of all things,  _ citizen _ .

Enjolras does not interrupt others often, not in matters of argument, at least - and this is not one. Or, he hopes it is not: Enjolras does not look displeased, nor angry, only thoughtful. But it is important, in Feuilly’s mind, that he not be a detriment before acquiring the chance to prove what he knows he is capable of.

To perform reconnaissance is one thing; to recruit is quite another. If Enjolras - or if Bahorel, or Courfeyrac - is testing him, he is doing a good job of it.

Evaluating one another is necessary, so early in their friendship, and Feuilly won’t pretend he isn’t constantly doing the same with all whom he meets. Class is class; status is status. And in most ways, bourgeois is still bourgeois. In others…

“I shan’t ask you to do anything that… discomposes you, Feuilly,” Enjolras says softly, his hands folded in front of him on the table. Feuilly fixes his line of sight upon them in order to avoid Enjolras’s steady, persuasive gaze. “Yet I do not feel that this would. You have proven yourself a highly adept speaker, you are charismatic, you are passionate, you hold my ideals in kind and expand upon them as able. I should like to listen to you more often.”

His tone is not of flattery. Feuilly knows flattery well, having observed its use for years, but no matter what praises Enjolras sings, he is always overwhelmingly sincere. Perhaps that is more frightening than flattery: but Feuilly sees the same things in Enjolras that he receives such praise for. Theirs is a state of mutual admiration, not idolatry.

Feuilly looks up to meet Enjolras’s striking eyes, and in the process catches the slightest hint of a smile at his lips.

“I have attended their gatherings before, Enjolras, but not as a … liaison,” he manages to say. “Only as a friend.”

“You will not go to them in anything other than friendship, will you?”

He shrugs, then crosses his arms.

A beat.

“I seek something from them, don’t I?” says Feuilly, letting his tone rise only a little. It is a question he knows the answer to.

Enjolras, immediately: “It is true I am asking you to do something unlawful.”

Somehow, that is less of a worry for Feuilly than losing his connections: but getting arrested, surely, would only quicken the process. Even so, he is aware of the risks of simply associating with whom he does, holding his own opinions, meeting in secret and formulating plans - like this, but others, too, more drastic and severe than a mere mission of gaining contacts.

“I have already sworn myself to this, Enjolras.”

And Enjolras nods in reply, his lips parted as though he could speak - but he says nothing. After a moment of this Feuilly feels awkward enough to go on:

“My concern is that I will fail.”

“You will not, Feuilly.”

Each time Enjolras says his name Feuilly feels a start in his chest, a reaction that surely comes from the direct exaggeration of the targeted, personal manner in which Enjolras always speaks. Enjolras speaks _ to _ him,  _ for  _ him, and does so honestly above all.

If Enjolras were to attend the woodworkers’ meeting, he would be met with distrust, surely, until he spoke. Enjolras is not all that he appears to be, and his background is far less evident than his character. (This, Feuilly might know better than anyone.) But his rhetoric, his charm - Feuilly has never met a man whom he’d think capable of surpassing Enjolras in his personal abilities.

But Enjolras seems to think Feuilly himself is more suited to this task, for reasons which he knows now are not solely due to his kinship in status.

“Accompany me, then, to be certain,” says Feuilly slowly. Again, Enjolras nods, with more resolve now.

“I will go with you, Citizen, but I am already sure: you will speak for both of us, and do it well.”

Citizen, again.

_ That is enough _ , thinks Feuilly, and he affirms this declaration with a smile.   
  



End file.
